February 15

 OK, I've got a whole lot of pictures from today!

This is definitely a day in the life of Lauren Duffy blogpost if I've ever seen one before...

So, hopefully this post doesn't bore you and/or make you think I'm obsessed with myself or anything like that.

Because trust me, I'm not. I just really like taking pictures and if I were to Instagram or post every one of the photos I take to some form of social media, I'm pretty sure that all of my friends would hate me...

Here goes! Today I started my day out by going for a jog around the neighborhood.

It snowed a little bit last night though, and it has been snowy and icy for a week or so now, so I couldn't go very fast, and I only ran a little over a mile.

Next I showered (yay!) and went to this coffeeshop near downtown Lexington that I'd heard good things about.

It's called North Lime Coffee & Donuts, and if you like locally owned coffeeshops as much as I do, click on the link and check it out.

Anyway, while there i had a very delicious Caramel Macchiato combined with a plain glazed doughnut (square doughnut pictured below) and a cinnamon sugar doughnut.

Both doughnuts were also very good, and I liked the coffeeshop, although I think going a less busy time than 9:30 on a Saturday morning would be a good choice.

There were just a few too many people there for my taste.

I did get a seat in a nice cozy chair though! Too bad I left my kindle at home and had to rush off to Kroger after breakfast anyway.

I went to Kroger today for the sake of making this Spicy Chicken Stir Fry, pictured below.

If you like spicy and/or Asian-inspired food, this recipe is a great choice.

It was super fast and easy to make, I think it took me maybe ten minutes to chop everything up, then 20 minutes to cook the rice and stir fry simultaneously.

I generally hate peanut butter, so I was pleasantly surprised that although there is peanut butter in the sauce, it doesn't taste like peanuts at all.



Rather, it's just the right amount of spicy with a whole lot of taste thanks to the Sriracha sauce, soy sauce, red peppers, and other ingredients.

I definitely recommend it!!

Anyway, no great dinner is complete without dessert!

So next (after yet another great stir fry picture) we have chocolate covered strawberries!

I thought they seemed appropriate considering it was Valentine's Day weekend and all...

I was originally going to use a recipe I pinned to my baking pinterest board, but ended up just using microwaveable candy coating that I also used for the Oreo balls.

The candy coating turned out just fine, although I would recommend using semi sweet chocolate chips with a little bit of vegetable shortening if you're going to try dipping strawberries yourself.

Although these were pretty good, the chocolate wasn't quite chocolate-y enough for my liking.

But hey, nothing ventured nothing gained! At least now I know for the future that I'd rather use a chocolate that is a little less sweet and a little more bitter!

My parents seemed to like the strawberries just fine though, so if you're in the bind and need to melt chocolate and dip strawberries quickly, it's still a valid option!


Finally, lets move onto the Oreo balls!!

One of my all-time favorite treats, these Oreo balls are super simple to make but super delicious to eat.

I promised a few people in Morehead that I would bring them back after being gone for the weekend, and since I generally try to keep my promises, I made them.

Just like everything else I make sweets-wise though, I made them smaller than usual. They're each probably less than an inch in diameter when usually people make them about an inch wide.

Still, size doesn't change taste when it comes to these! And I think this way I eat less candy and can spread the love a little further.

I was very very very happy with the way these turned out, but I did my best not to eat them. I'm saving them for my Morehead friends.

Ah, but it's so hard when they look so sweet...

Anyway, in writing about all of the amazing food I was able to make/eat today, I forgot to continue my explanation of my day!

After going to Kroger and dropping the groceries off at home, I went to the Mad Potter again. This time, with my best friend since birth Hannah.

She picked out her own coffee mug and got started on it, while I continued on mine.

Unfortunately, I still have a ways to go (as you can see).

But at least it's getting there!

Just a few more hours spent on it and I'm sure I can get it done, and I think it'll definitely be worth it.

I'm pretty proud of the results so far, honestly. I came up with the design myself after probably an hour of looking on pinterest and brainstorming yesterday.

It looks pretty simple and probably like it shouldn't take me almost five hours to get this much of it done, but let me tell you it is quite the slow and meticulous process!!

Especially for a perfectionist like me.

Anyway, hope you've been enjoying my blog, and I'm happy to say I'm finally very nearly caught up again!